One in six Finns does teleworking at least occasionally

Researcher says attitudes and management culture prevent telework from becoming more popular

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Finland is one of those European countries in which teleworking is common.
      Telework or telecommuting is work that employees can do at home, at holiday homes, on a train, or for example from client premises.
      This kind of work arrangement became common in the 1990s, and at present at least 15 per cent of all Finnish employees do telework at least occasionally. The figure is seven times higher than that in 1990.
      However, the popularity of teleworking has stopped growing in Finland. The factors preventing such an arrangement from becoming more general include attitudes and management culture.
     
”The Finnish working culture continues to be rather traditional in aspect. Workplaces should trust their employees more than they actually do”, says special researcher Virpi Ruohomäki from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.
      However, employees do bring home increasing amounts of work, and they can be reached all the time. The flipside of telecommuting is that employees do more work out of hours without pay - more or less voluntarily.
      ”This kind of overtime work done at home has been increasing”, Ruohomäki reports.
      According to studies, as many as one-third of employees in fact do some work at home relating to their full-time job - usually unpaid.
      The highly educated and professional and managerial employees usually bring work home more than others, men more often than women.
     
According to Ruohomäki, the advantages of teleworking are clear: ”The flexibility of working hours and place, independence, and fewer interruptions.”
      Among the risks are the poor balance between work and leisure and workloads that become too high.
      ”Work can reduce the amount of free time, whereby the time reserved for recovery and rest tends to shrink”, Ruohomäki lists.
      ”For some people, this kind of answerable and independent work without social interaction with co-workers is suitable, but not all people are cut out for teleworking ”, Ruohomäki adds.
     
When it comes to the environment, telework is sustainable, as a reduction in commuting is bound to be reflected in emissions.
      ”Telework is an efficient means to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. A decline in commuting will also ease congestion during peak hours”, says researcher Ville Helminen from the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).
     
Friday September 16th will be the National Telework Day in Finland, with participants already from almost 100 companies.
      The project is being spearheaded by SYKE and Microsoft Finland. There is a link below (in Finnish).
     
     
THE PROS AND CONS OF TELEWORK
     
PROS
      Flexible working hours.
      Helps balance work and family.
      Saves time and costs of commuting. Reduces commuting in general.
      Improves job satisfaction, work efficiency and productivity.
      Reduces the need for large office premises.
      Makes getting a job more tempting.
     
CONS
      Potential for too many working hours.
      Teleworkers may have problems stepping away from their work at the end of the day. Can be difficult to draw a line between work and leisure.
      May affect family life.
      Working premises at home can be unsatisfactory.
      A lack of social interaction with co-workers can lead to feelings of social and professional isolation.
      Potential concerns about career advancement and one's status at the workplace.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  More and more Finns work from their holiday homes (24.3.2009)

Links:
  Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)
  Kansallinen Etätyöpäivä (National Telework Day) 16.9.2011 (in Finnish)
  Finnish Institute of Occupational Health

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